Donate to African students

Donate to South Sudan. Health care in the most recent state of Africa has almost collapsed. Out of 1000 newborns, 64.5 babies die. South Sudan has thus the highest child mortality in the world. Many aid organizations have completely withdrawn and the development aid has largely been discontinued. We are convinced: Even the next generation has earned an education. Help us with your donation to finance scholarships for young medical doctors.

Is South Sudan still to help? Can donations actually cause anything in a country completely destroyed by the civil war? When South Sudan voted in 2011 for its independence and also got it after decades of civil war, the euphoria was great first. The whole world seemed prepared to help South Sudan build a new state. Since the 1990s, as a journalist, I had always reported about Sudan and the horrors of the war. In 1995 the “Society for Threatened Peoples” published my report on the genocide of the Nuba. The first comprehensive documentation on the systematic extermination of a whole ethnic group in Sudan. The decades-long murder of black Africans in Sudan by an Arab-Muslim elite in Khartoum had until then been hardly noticed by the world public.

Then, after years of tough negotiations, the South Sudanese 2011 finally got the opportunity to take their fate into their own hands. Aid organizations from all over the world came to help build the young state. I myself also founded the social company BIGENT with my colleague Mirko Schwanitz and some South Sudanese friends, a dermatologist and a psychologist, to build up a hospital in the province of Upper Nile. Together, we developed a model project to reduce the high mother-child mortality in the region. To this end, we also trained some local health care workers to bring basic knowledge about hygiene, health care and the necessary care of mothers and children to the last village.

Violent outbursts surprises aid organizations

When our project was just beginning to show the first successes, the incomprehensible happened. The disputes between President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar about money and power, resulted in a bitter civil war along ethnic lines. In December 2013, President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, had a military special unit with members of his home region scour the capital of Juba and systematically assassinate all Nuer. Kiir wanted to destroy the power base of his adversary Riek Machar, a Nuer, within a few days. In fact, in only one week thousands of Nuer were murdered in the capital. But this did not stop the conflict. Throughout the country, violence destroyed within a few weeks everything that had been done in 10 years of development work.

To this day people are being murdered in South Sudan because of their ethnicity. The military is dominated by Dinka. After the soldiers had not received any pay for months, they began to rob, rape, and assassinate their own people. Meanwhile, at least 2 million people are on the run. The United Nations fears a famine caused by war and violence.

Development aid is also necessary during the civil war

Many aid organizations have now withdrawn from southern Sudan. This has exacerbated the crisis because many South Sudanese have lost their jobs. Only a few are still trying to provide emergency aid and humanitarian aid. And to answer the questions asked: In our opinion food aid alone is not sufficient to cope with the crisis. Right now it is necessary to support civil society.

In our hospital in Palouge, in the province of Upper Nile, I have seen how doctors, how nurses have worked for their patients despite the most difficult conditions. We have therefore decided to promote the training of young South Sudanese medical practitioners. Because in the end, it will be South Sudanese who will rebuild their country after the Civil War. Good education is the most important prerequisite.

Donate for training scholarships

Lisa Tete wants to become gynecologist and obstetrician. The young South Sudanese studies in her first year at Kenya Methodist University, a Christian university in Nairobi.

“I want to help South Sudan develop well,” says Lisa Tete with a smile. Committed and determined to complete her studies successfully. Lisa Tetes father is a priest and one of the most important peace mediators. Lisa Tete wants to work hard to give South Sudan a future as well.

For her medical studies, Lisa Tete needs 4500 US dollars per year for study fees and 1200 US dollars for accommodation at the University in Nairobi. For 6 years of medicine, the total is $ 34,200